Soledad en masa

Before coming to Boston last September, I was not much of a sports fan, in the sense that I did not follow sports constantly or attended games. I’d check in on the Dodgers’ and Lakers’ standings once a month, but unlike my friends, I didn’t have favorite players or went to games often. I’ve gone to three MLB games in my life (two Dodgers games, 1998/9 and 2007; one Angels game, 2005, which had the bitter farewell in the form of a “protest” by SOSers) and they’ve been all free. Soy codo, ¿y qué?

I can’t work myself up to be gung-ho over a sports team’s performance, trades and drama. The only sport that approximate that level of support is fútbol, and even then it has to be FMF (¡CHIVAS!). I’m just not a sports kind of fellow. Since I’ve been here in Boston, however, I’ve slowly been moving more and more towards becoming a fan. Maybe it’s how devoted New Englanders are to the Red Sox, Pats, Celtics and Bruins that changed my perspective towards fanaticism. I started following the Dodgers last September as they were close to getting the wild card spot, but then they lost ten games and were eliminated. Depressing, I know, but so it goes.

Being in Boston, however, always brought up the question of basketball: “Are you a Lakers fan?” (Most people figured I was from L.A. because I wore my Dodgers cap almost religiously, sometimes alternating with a Red Sox cap). The rivalry has been dormant for a while (maybe a decade or two), but it continues in the minds of Celtics and Lakers fans. It was on my mind in November, when I checked the Lakers’ schedule and saw they had a game the day after Thanksgiving at Boston. I wasn’t going home for that weekend, but a bit of home was coming my way! Read the rest of this entry »

I took time out from studying for my last final of my first year of college (HOLY SHIT!!!) to check out the most recent issue of Puro Pedo Magazine (downloadable here; it’s a PDF). Tucked away in page 11 of the magazine I found this gem of a parody ad:

If the developers come out with a vihuela, guitarrón, or bajo sexto expansion pack, I’ll buy it immediately.

I suggest you listen to “Las ciudades” by José Alfredo Jiménez while reading this post. The version I have chosen is sung by Lola Beltrán, whose version I prefer. If you would like to read the lyrics as well, they are available here.

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As my bus approached its destination and I boarded a cab, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew you and I would be face-to-face within a few minutes, but this time would be different. The last time you and I were face-to-face, there was a bond that intricately and intimately brought us together. Now, more than a year since you and I had seen each other and bid our farewell, I did not know how I would act, how I would react, how different I would be in your presence.

Te vi llegar
Y sentí la presencia de un ser desconocido

When you came in, one look at you told me that you had drastically changed since we last said goodbye. You no longer carried yourself as you did when we knew each other. You were now a strong, confident person compared to who you had been. I don’t know what occurred in that year since we last each other (or maybe it was a remnant of the time we knew each other), but something inspired that change in you.

Te vi llegar
Y sentí lo que nunca jamás había sentido

This was the first time we saw each other since that bond was destroyed by our atrocious actions. Should I have greeted you? What was I supposed to do? Anxiety was not the only thing I felt when I saw you. I felt this deep yearning to return to that time, relive the past, right the wrongs, set things on their path and continue our lives. Never in the time since our last meeting over a year before had I felt that. Never again have I felt it.

Te quise amar
Y tu amor no era fuego, no era lumbre

La última vez que nos vimos un año antes, todavía existía algunos restos del lazo que en un momento nos unió. Entraste en la aula y volteé la mirada para no verte. No nos hablamos mucho, pero dentro de mi ardía algo que solo mis propias acciones podría apagar. Cuando al fín estuvimos solos, los dos nos miramos, hablamos de las acciones terribles que los dos habíamos tomado los meses anteriores, y nuestro sendero se separó en dos. Aunque todavía sentíamos lo que habíamos sentido meses antes, no era lo mismo.

Las distancias apartan las ciudades,
Las ciudades destruyen las costumbres

It all began to unravel when you left that summer to Mexico. At that point, I had resigned myself to the knowledge that, come the end of August, you would leave your home and me and go off to college. I knew that our personalities would lead to our end, but I did not want to miss you. It hurt me too much to think that since we began seeing each other, I knew you would leave at the end of the summer and I had never accepted that fact. I had put it off my mind. When you came back, we only had a few weeks before you would make that first trip away from home, alone. Once you had finally left, I knew that it was only a matter of time for the end to come, I just tried to maintain normalcy. The distance between us eventually destroy us: I lost my trust for you, we stopped talking to each other, we were no longer able to see us during the day after a phone call. As I walked through the streets we had often walked, I was reminded of the routines we followed and the spontaneous actions that broke that blissful monotony. Finally, it was the actions we took in distant cities those two fateful weekends in October and November that ultimately ended our relationship, our friendship, our customs, our world.

Te dije adiós
Y pediste que nunca, que nunca te olvidara

You never asked me to never forget you. You knew you didn’t have to because the time we spent with each other defined that period in our respective lives.

Te dije adíos
Y sentí de tu amor otra vez la fuerza extraña

We never properly said goodbye to each other. However, our actions, even before you left, spoke volumes for each of us. I felt what at that moment was strange but I now recognize: a desire for the something past though you were before me.

Y mi alma completa se me cubrió de hielo
Y mi cuerpo entero se me llenó de frío

The fire that warmed me was extinguished and hasn’t been lit ever since. I have put the cauldron behind seventeen locks and destroyed the seventeen keys. There is now an empty space, waiting for a new fire to take its place. I’m in no hurry to be warm, however. I’ve always had a preference for colder temperatures.

Y estuve a punto, de cambiar tu mundo,
De cambiar tu mundo por el mundo mío.

I can’t begin to think how our worlds could switch, considering that even now, they are very similar. I’ve considered of how this switch could be attained and I’ve horrified myself by the thoughts that have at times taken hold of me. I wonder if you ever felt what I did.

I know that each time we see each other, I’ll get an urge to somehow make you feel how I’ve felt. I never will.

I first heard “Estrellita,” composed by Mexican composer Manuel María Ponce, four years ago, when my teacher lent me a copy of Mariachi Cobre’s Este es mi mariachi. At first, I didn’t want to hear it because it was not a mariachi song; instead, it was a single voice accompanied by a guitar. One day, however, when I had my music library on “random,” “Estrellita” started playing and I was amazed by the song. The singular voice, accompanied by the guitar, were remarkable. I realized it was a song meant to be sung as an opera.

The Mariachi Cobre version is not online, but I did find a version supreme to it. It is a version of “Estrellita” recorded by Spanish tenor Alfredo Kraus. Kraus’ voice is so strong, so full, so rich that words don’t make justice to his interpretation.

This is the last “Video of the Week” for a while. It may come back sporadically.

I’m saddened to say that the city of South Gate is in the news today, but not for any positive reasons (but with the state of the media today, all news is bad news, right?). The principal, Jesús Angulo, and an assistant principal, María Sotomayor, of South East High School were charged yesterday with a misdemeanor for failure to report a possible sexual encounter between a substitute teacher and a student. If found guilty, they face up to six months in prison and a $1,000 dollar fine.

The encounter occurred in March and the substitute teacher, Jesús Salvador Saenz, was fired by the LAUSD and awaits trial on a felony count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

Information was taken from the L.A. Times and CBS 2 websites.